The Australian aged care system is in the midst of an overhaul. A ten-year reform plan released in 2012 aims to create a sustainable, consumer-driven and market-based aged care system. Many of the policy changes have focused on packaged home care services, which provide support for older people who are eligible for residential aged care to remain in their own homes.

This Health Policy Issues Brief from the Deeble Institute of Health Policy Research synthesises government and non-government policy and research documents that have examined the impact of recent home care reforms on older people and their carers, the aged care workforce and providers and the wider health system. Recommendations are made to fill identified gaps in the development and evaluation of the home care reforms.